Authorities
at Algiers Houari Boumediene International Airport were on Monday, July
29 forced to divert all inbound flights to Wahran and Annaba airports
after a fire broke out in the control tower at 18h00L.  |
| Algiers Houari Boumediene International Airport |
According to news reports,
an electrical short-circuit on one of the tower's lower level's
numerous air conditioning units caused the fire, which was quickly put
out by 20h00L by the fire brigade.
A mobile tower was installed to ensure the continuity of traffic with operations resuming at 23h00L.
On a tour of the site following the incident, Algerian Transport
Minister, Amar Tou, who was accompanied by the CEO of Algiers' airport management
services company (Etablissement de Gestion de Services Aéroportuaires d'Alger - EGSA) Allache Tahar, stressed that technical equipment present in the control tower had not been
damaged.
An investigation is underway to discover the cause of the short out.
